Invitations to Margaret Thatcher's funeral sent

LONDON -- Invitations to Margaret Thatcher's funeral are going out to more than 2,000 celebrities, dignitaries, colleagues and friends of the late British leader -- from former U.S. presidents to "Dynasty" star Joan Collins and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Thatcher, who died Monday at age 87, will be given a funeral with military honors at St. Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday. Though not officially a state funeral, it will be the grandest such service seen in Britain since the death in 2002 of the Queen Mother Elizabeth.

The invitation list includes all surviving U.S. presidents, British politicians past and present, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The current and former world leaders invited had a "close connection to Baroness Thatcher," Prime Minister David Cameron's office said.

Cameron's office said the list -- drawn up by Thatcher's family, her Conservative Party and the government -- includes representatives of 200 states and organizations with whom Britain has normal diplomatic relations.

Most countries will be represented by ambassadors or other officials. Invitees include the ambassador of Argentina, with whom Britain, under Thatcher, fought a 1982 war over the Falkland Islands, and a representative of Nelson Mandela -- whom Thatcher once called a terrorist.